PEEK Filament for your 3D printer

Introduction

Polyether ether ketone is an organic polymer that was first developed in the 1980s. PEEK is a semi-crystalline polymer that displays some of the best mechanical and chemical properties of any 3D printing filament. PEEK is commonly used in aerospace, automotive and chemical industries.

PEEK has a relatively high glass transition temperature of around 143°C and a very high printing temperature range of 355°C to 387°C. PEEK will certainly need a heated bed of around 120°C. In addition to its high processing temperature, PEEK is also expensive.

Despite its high cost and processing temperature, PEEK has some serious benefits. It is extremely chemical resistant, it will even take a long time for concentrated sulphuric acid to dissolve PEEK at room temperature. Additionally, PEEK has extremely high elasticity and tensile strength moduli. This makes PEEK ideal for products that are going to be in very high stress environments for example bearings and piston parts. 3D printed PEEK has been used for a variety of medical applications, including medical implants.

The performance properties of PEEK are undoubtedly some of the best available in 3D printing. With high performance comes high price, to get the most out of this expensive filament you need to have a quality printer that can handle the high processing specifications of PEEK.

If you feel like you have mastered 3D printing with simpler filaments, have a printer that can reach the required temperatures and have a project that needs aerospace level performance materials then PEEK is the perfect filament to invest in. Here at Filaments.directory you can select the right PEEK filament using our constantly updated list of suppliers and our comprehensive search tool!